No Choice
by Ray-of-Sunshine-08
Summary: Mark takes a temporary leave of absence to stay with Sloan in Santa Monica before the baby is born. Meanwhile Lexie is in Seattle trying to come to terms with the fact that her relationship with Mark is really over.
1. Chapter 1

Lexie Grey was standing at the nurses' station like she had so many times in the past. She was finishing up her charts and she was then going to be able to go home. This too she had done so many times in the past. Only this time was different.

This time she wouldn't be going home to her apartment. This time she would be going home to Meredith's. Althogh if she was honest with herself, she would tell herself that this wasn't different. She had been going home to Meredith's alone for the past few months, and every time it hurt her. It was because she knew that when she got "home", he wouldn't be there. He wouldn't be coming home after her either. It had been months since she and Mark Sloan had broken up, but every day she felt like she died a little more. Only this time was different.

A few days ago Mark and Sloan had driven back down Los Angeles. Mark had wanted to make sure that Sloan had the best care possible, and Addison was the best. Lexie had thought she would be able to handle it. And she had. At least until Derek had come into the hospital today with the news that Sloan had gone into labor. This is when Lexie had to find an on call room.

It actually took Lexie a while to find an on call room that didn't have any memories of her and Mark. Once she finally did she let it all out. It may have been her naiveté, but she had still been holding on to some hope that she and Mark may have been able to make it. But now that she knew that he was going to actually have a new family her hopes had been shattered.


	2. Chapter 2

Lexie had been in there for about an hour. It was then that she heard a knock on the door. She hadn't locked the door so she looked up to see who had the nerve to come in and disturb her.

"Hey." That was all that she said. That was all that it took for Lexie to break down again. Meredith came and sat beside her as she rambled on.

"I'm being stupid aren't I?" The tears were coming down uncontrollably. They were also making her hard to understand. But Meredith didn't seem to mind.

"I mean…I knew that Sloan was going to have a baby. Why do I have to start breaking down now? This is just pathetic."

Meredith just continued to look at her. Not saying anything. If Lexie was honest with herself, this kind and understanding Meredith was a bit uncanny. None the less, she continued her ramble.

"You...you want t…. You want to hear something crazy? When Mark left with Sloan this time it sort of seemed like none of this had happened. I was able to pretend."

Lexie let out a heart wrenching sob. "Now…I know…that I can't pretend. When he gets back…he's going to have a new family. And he's not going to have any room or want for me."

"Oh God, Meredith I love him so much…what am I gonna do?" Now the cries that Lexie let were uncontrollable.

Again Meredith did what was out of the norm for her, but what any sister would do. She let Lexie cry. She didn't say anything. She was just there for Lexie.

For this Lexie was grateful. She didn't know if she would be able to form any coherent thoughts or words at the moment.

Lexie didn't know how long they had been there this time. But it couldn't have been too long because nobody had come looking for them.

She lifted her head from the pillow she had been crying into and looked at the half-sister that had never really felt like her sister until now.

Meredith gave her a small reassuring smile. It seemed to say that you'll get through this. The Meredith stood up and went over the door. Before she opened it she turned around and looked back at Lexie.

"You ready?"

Lexie let out a short laugh, and nodded. She wiped her eyes on the blanket and stood up. She tried to straighten her scrubs and smooth out her hair as best she could. She didn't want to be any more news to the gossip that seemed to grow at this hospital.

"I guess." Lexie headed back to work with Meredith close behind her. She knew things would never be the same. But for her sanity she was going to have to at least act like she didn't care. She was going to put up a front that showed she was okay, even if her world was really crashing down around her.


	3. Chapter 3

SO, after her harrowing day of not trying to get bogged down thinking about Mark, Lexie found herself at the nurse's station finishing up her charts.

She was on her last one when someone came up to tha opposite side of the counter. They hadn't seen her. And it was this person, who this very day had become some she could hate. Although it was through no fault of their own.

Derek Shepherd handed some paperwork off to a nurse and was about ready to leave when Owen Hunt came up beside him.

Now, Lexie had nothing against Owen, but right now he was engaging Derek in a conversation that she didn't want to hear.

"So, have you heard anything else from Sloan yet?"

"Well, last I heard from him was around 1."

Lexie stole a glance at the clock on the wall and saw that it was around 8:30. She thought to herself that that was an awfully long time to go without an update. Then again he was probably very busy.

"Apparently the labor wasn't going very smoothly." Derek continued.

"Was there anything wrong?"

"No, not that I could tell. Even if there was, I'm not entirely sure that he'd tell me about it."

Derek pulled out his phone to see if he had somehow missed any calls from Mark.

Lexies curiosity was peaked so she listened in on the conversation with the subject that she had tried so hard not to think about.

"I'm not worried though." Derek commented as he put his phone away. "He's got Addison as well as the rest of her team. So I think it is safe to say that they are in good hands."

With that, they both walked off and continued their conversation. Whether or not they changed subjects was beyond Lexie as she was now out of hearing range.

For this she was grateful.

She was already mentally yelling at herself in her head for getting caught up in a subject about Mark even though she had told herself that she wouldn't.

So she finshed her charts and headed to the locker to change out of her scrubs and go home. She wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere so she took her time as there was no one else in there.

Lexie began wondering if this was what her life was going to be like from now on. Was she always going to be trying to not let thoughts of mark bother her? Were thoughts about life with Mark always going to bother her?

She didn't know. And that scared the hell out of her.

Realizing that being at the hospital right now was not doing anything for her she grabbed her purse and her coat and began to rush out of the locker room.

Lexie had decided that what she needed was to spend the evening with some tequila at Joe's. She was going to get drunk and hope that it fixed all of her problems.

As Lexie stepped out of locker room, there was no one else around. She must really not have a life as everyone else seemed to have gone home.

"Grey!"

Everyone that is except for Callie.


End file.
